Why Jakhongir Artikkhodjaev did not come to the meeting with participation of diplomats to discuss the issue relating to illegal demolition of buildings in Tashkent?

On April 15 in Tashkent, representatives of Western diplomatic missions, international and local human rights defenders, as well as businessmen and journalists discussed issues relating to illegal demolition and construction of buildings in Uzbekistan, which have recently caused widespread public discontent in the country.

At the same time, some mass media spread information that representatives of the Tashkent city administration did not attend the meeting with participation of human rights activists and foreign diplomats.

According to the press service of the capital's administration, the invitation to this event, dated April 12, was left in the office of the Tashkent city administration on the morning of April 15. According to the work schedule of the administration, requests received during the day of circulation, invitations and letters are registered. Then responsible persons are determined and transferred to the khokim secretariat. The collected correspondence at the end of the day is reported to the khokim to receive relevant instructions.

“Considering this, it would be advisable to send an invitation in advance. The following copy of the invitation can also be understood that its format does not inspire a serious approach. Disagreements could have been avoided if the organizers took into account that the work schedule of the khokim was determined in advance and agreed on the day of the meeting with the officials of the administration,” the press service said.

In addition, in a letter signed by the Director of the Center for Humanitarian Law, neither the address nor the telephone numbers were indicated, which makes it impossible to determine whether the activity of this organization is legal.

“It was also not possible to get detailed information about the meeting and its organizers by handwriting on the letter a phone number. We would advise the initiator of the meeting to prepare for such an event more thoroughly next time, since the probability that the khokim will go to an unknown meeting organized by an unknown organization is scanty,” the press service noted.

The press service also reported that the Tashkent city administration is always open for a dialogue and expresses readiness to cooperate with human rights defenders, international organizations and the diplomatic corps on topical issues, discuss existing problems and participate in their elimination.

“In order to avoid misinformation and premature conclusions, dissemination of false information among the public and study comprehensively the situation, we urge media representatives, bloggers and journalists to interact on all issues of their interest,” the press service concluded.

Representatives of the Tashkent city administration did not attend the event. As Kun.uz was informed by the capital's administration, they received the invitation very late.